Phillies Attempt to Fix Outfield Again, Acquire Corey Dickerson
The Phillies signed Andrew McCutchen in the offseason and he played very well before going down with a knee injury in early June. Right before the injury, the club traded for Jay Bruce in part due to Odubel Herrera being placed on leave under the league’s domestic violence policy. Since that time, Herrera has been suspended for the rest of the season while Bruce has landed on the injured list. Again seeking outfield help, the Phillies have now made a deal with the Pirates for Corey Dickerson. Jeff Passan was first with the news.
Phillies Receive:
- Corey Dickerson
Pirates Receive:
- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After putting up 2.6 WAR and a 115 wRC+ in 2017 for the Rays, the arbitration-eligible Dickerson was traded to the Pirates for Daniel Hudson and his contract. For the Pirates last season, Dickerson put up an identical 115 wRC+ and a 2.7 WAR. He dramatically lowered his strikeouts with the Pirates to make up for a loss of power and only 21 walks all year. A week into this season, Dickerson strained his shoulder and was replaced by rookie Bryan Reynolds, who has been very good for Pittsburgh, though a BABIP over .400 is doing a lot of the work. Dickerson, a free agent at the end of the season, has come back strong from the injury with a 133 wRC+ in 142 plate appearances. He’s kept the gains he made last season on the strikeout front, but he has been a much more patient hitter with a 9% walk rate in limited time. Dan Szymborski recently listed Dickerson as an under-the-radar move this deadline:
Corey Dickerson is unsigned for next season and it’s hard to see the Pirates being gung-ho about bringing him back on a larger, guaranteed contract. Dickerson’s healthy now and is putting up his typical wRC+ around 120. Given that he can actually field his position, I personally think he’s far more interesting a pickup than Nicholas Castellanos would be. The Pirates aren’t technically out of the playoff picture, but as they now have the second-worst record in the National League, the camera can’t see them standing behind the large adult sons.
Dickerson is likely to replace Adam Haseley, who has played fairly well in limited time but doesn’t have the proven bat Dickerson provides. The team went a couple weeks without a Bruce-type hitter, and now they have another one in Dickerson. This is mostly a depth move, but Dickerson provides the Phillies with another solid bat in their lineup and could put Scott Kingery more often in the infield, as Jim Salisbury notes:
I hear Phillies will not be sending a player to Pitt for Dickerson. I imagine him getting time off bench and in LF with Haseley playing some CF and Kingery getting some time at 3b
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As for what the Pirates are actually receiving:
#Phillies are giving up relatively little to acquire OF Corey Dickerson, who is making $8.5 million this season and will become a free agent after the season: a PTBNL and international bonus money.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) July 31, 2019
So the Pirates save some money and can maybe acquire another international prospect or two while the Phillies get the bat they need for basically a few million dollars. It’s hard not to like this deal from Philadelphia’s end, even if the impact is relatively small.
Craig Edwards can be found on twitter @craigjedwards.
Looks more likely Haseley stays in the bigs and Nick Williams goes to AAA again. That puts Haseley in CF most days and Kingery at 3B. On days Kingery plays CF, Haseley plays LF, and Franco 3B, Dickerson is the top PH off the bench. His skillset is very good for a PH, but the results haven’t been there yet in his career (.576OPS and 40 wRC+).